I meant to respond to an earlier thread WRT this topic, but got sidetracked, so...
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > ....It is also the reason that > Susan Brownmueller's theory > that rape is a political act to keep women down, > that it is about power rather > than sex seems kind of silly. Why would the rapist > risk jail or worse to > advance male dominance? If it is about power rather > than sex why are rapists almost > always young men and rape victims young women? Rape > is about sex and it is as > Damon points out part of the male drive to procreate > by hook or crook. I agree that rape is certainly not a "political act," but if it was *only* about procreation then no child, man or older (i.e. post-menopausal) woman would ever be raped. Even if it was *only* about sex, here and probably in most of the developed world, any guy can get sex if he has the money to pay a hooker. (I don't know the actual going rates, but have heard that as little as $50, or less, will suffice in some cases.) If a guy has _some_ degree of chutzpah, charisma, humor, deception or good looks, he stands a chance to 'get some' from a bar encounter. And 'Rosie' is available to all! Rape is about humiliation, power and by-the-way sexual gratification. It is the thrill of the forbidden hunt and 'substitution kill.' It is the mark of the viciously uncaring, overweeningly arrogant, or disgustingly deviant. In the case of child incest, the perpetrator is pathetically inadequate emotionally, and unable to deal with another adult on intimate terms. Stats: -1 of 6 U.S. women has experienced a rape or attempted rape. (2000) -Victims of rape and sexual assault report that in nearly 3 out of 4 incidents, the offender was somebody they knew. -Approximately 28% of victims are raped by husbands or boyfriends, 35% by acquaintances, and 5% by other relatives. (U.S. Department of Justice, 1994. Violence by Intimates. Bureau of Justice Statistics. ) http://www.vanderbilt.edu/ProjectSafe/statistics.html -15% of rape victims are younger than 12 Lawrence Greenfeld, Bureau of Justice Statistics "Sex Offenses and Offenders" (1997) -29% of rape victims are 12-17 years old -Convicted child molesters who abused girls had an average of 52 victims each. Men who molested boys had an astonishing average of 150 victims. (In a study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health; Dr. Gene G. Abel, Emory University) -29% of rape victims were younger than 12. ("Rape in America," 1992 - Nat'l Crime Victims Research & Treatment Center; Medical College of South Carolina; "One of the things that surprised us was that rape in America is a tragedy of youth." - Professor Dean Kilpatrick, co-author) -1 in 3-4 girls is sexually abused before age 18. -1 in 6-8 boys is sexually assaulted by age 18. http://www.childlures.com/research/statistics.asp [NOTE: this is a private group, so some of the numbers could be skewed, particularly if self-surveys were used (I'd guess that a victim of child abuse would be more willing to answer a survey about it than someone who was not). Another confounding factor, I presume, is teens/young folk who thought they wanted to have sex, then later panic'd and thought they didn't actually consent.] About 1/4 of the way down the page of this U.S. Department of Justice site is a table re: violent crime, broken down by age. Victims of rape/sexual assault (entire range not typed here), by percentage: Age 12-14: 8% 15-17: 12% 18-21: 21% ... 50-64: 2% 65+ : 1% -Except for homicide data provided by the Uniform Crime Reports, the tables in this report include data from the redesigned National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) for 1992, 1993, and 1994. The NCVS obtains information about crimes, including incidents not reported to police, from a continuous, nationally representative sample of households in the United States. Approximately 50,000 individuals age 12 or older are interviewed for the survey annually. http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/ascii/apvsvc.txt I have heard the term "rape fantasies" tossed about - none of my women friends with whom I've discussed this (admittedly a miniscule and unscientific sampling) have concocted such. Debbi {...who pleads the Fifth WRT _seduction_ fantasies...} _______________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Win 1 of 4,000 free domain names from Yahoo! Enter now. http://promotions.yahoo.com/goldrush _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
